Battle Royale ‘Em Up: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

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Battle Royale-style FPSs are the new zombie sandbox survival games, which were the new CCGs, which were the new Minecraftbuts, which were the new MOBAs, which in turn were the new tower defences, which were the new MMORPGs, which were the new FMV games, which were, of course, the new Doom clones. Now Brendan ‘PlayerUnknown’ Greene, the chap who created a Battle Royale mod for Arma 2 & 3 and helped on H1Z1’s Battle Royaleing, is getting his own game with his own name on it.

Bluehole, the makers of MMORPG Tera, today announced they’ve signed up PlayerUnknown to work on a standalone Battle Royale ’em up with vehicles and all, named PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds [official site].

Battlegrounds will plop 64 players onto an island to scavenge around and murder each other. As is customary for the genre, it’ll start players with nothing, requiring them to find weapons and items. The murderzone will shrink over time, pushing players towards conflict in a last-man standing way. Somewhat less common is having vehicles to pootle around in, and weapon upgrades like silencers and sights.

“I’ve always wanted to create a standalone game based on the mod I created for the Arma series, and working with Bluehole gives me the resources and creative freedom to build the experience I’ve always envisioned,” Greene said in the announcement. He’s moved from Ireland to South Korea to join Bluehole as the game’s creative director.

No word yet on when Battlegrounds will launch, but we do know it’ll be a paid game – not free-to-play.

While Greene’s name may carry some clout, I wonder how hot Battle Royale ’em ups will be by the time it arrives. Still, though the genre’s not uncrowded, someone simply releasing a solid game may well be able to make a splash – especially if were to launch actually finished, not in the typical Early Access way. Ark spun off its Survival of the Fittest mode but needs a beefy PC, H1Z1’s King of the Hill spin-off has been slow to fix bugs, and The Culling was designed from the start as a standalone but is still finding its direction. It’s a veritable Battle Royale of Battle Royale games.

I’m really waiting for a good (aka finished) standalone BattleRoyale. The Arma 3 Version is good, but still comes with some bugs and sometimes you just can’t find a hardcore (aka 1st person only) server to play on. A standalone game may bring a larger audience.